Image: Tango Gameworks
South Korean gaming giant Krafton has announced that it is investing almost $70 million to become an “AI-first company”.
As reported by PC Gamer, the firm – which owns PUGB Studios and Tango Gameworks, creators of Hi-Fi Rush – announced “a complete reorganization of the company’s operational development system, placing AI at the center of problem solving,” the end goal of which is “fostering change in individuals and organizations, increasing company-wide productivity, and accelerating mid- to long-term corporate value growth”.
Krafton is investing around 100 billion Korean won (approximately $69.7 million) in a massive helping of GPUs in order to “support multi-stage tasks requiring sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning [and] serve as the foundation for accelerating the implementation of agentic AI”.
On top of this expense, 30 billion won ($21 million) is to be spent annually “to actively support its employees in directly utilising and applying various AI tools to their work”.
As part of the statement – translated via Google by PC Gamer – Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han adds that “through our AI First strategy, Krafton will expand the growth opportunities for each member, expand creative attempts centred on player experience, and lead AI innovation across the gaming industry. We will establish operational standards centered on AI and present best practices that can be referenced in the global gaming industry.”
Krafton – which also owns Striking Distance Studios (The Callisto Protocol), Unknown Worlds Entertainment (Subnautica) and Neon Giant (The Ascent) – isn’t the only company in the world of video games to be betting big on the benefits of AI.
Rival mega-publisher EA recently signed a deal with Stability AI to “co-develop transformative generative AI models, tools, and workflows that empower EA’s artists, designers, and developers to reimagine how games are made”. However, another report claims that EA staff are finding the company’s internal chatbot tool is complicating development.
The Finals and Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has also embraced AI, but its co-founder Patrick Söderlund recently said “the human aspect” of game development is still “essential” and that an AI could never build a video game.
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media’s sites from an editorial perspective. He’s also the editor of Time Extension, the network’s newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming’s past glories.